Former Riverside County deputy sheriff held in Crestline homicide

Steve Baumgartner, 53, Crestline, was arrested for suspicion of murder in the shooting death of his next door neighbor Monday night.
Courtesy Photo

CRESTLINE >> Gunfire erupted in this mountain community Monday evening leaving one man dead and another in sheriff’s custody.

Shortly after 5 p.m., deputies responded to the shooting in the 23900 block of Wildwood Lane where they found Michael Clark, 38, of Crestline, who had been shot in the face, according to a press release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

He was transported to St. Bernadine Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Neighbors on Wildwood Lane, about five blocks from Lake Gregory, say the suspected shooter is Clark’s next door neighbor and former Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy, Steven Michael Baumgartner.

“I know he was a cop at one time, but he didn’t talk to us much,” mountain resident Rebecca Lynn said. “He and the other guy were always yelling at each other.”

Detectives determined the motive of the shooting stemmed from an argument between the two men, sheriff’s officials added.

Baumgartner, 53, was arrested and booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga for suspicion of murder.

He is being held without bail.

Baumgartner was a sworn deputy assigned to court services in Indio from 1990 until he left the Sheriff’s Department in 1998, Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy Albert Martinez said.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact homicide detectives at 909-387-3589.